Middlesex County, Virginia

Middlesex County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Saluda
Year Organized: 1673
Square Miles: 130

Court House:

P.O. Box 428
County Courthouse
Saluda, VA 23149-0428

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Middlesex is probably named for the English county of Middlesex.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Middlesex County, Virginia formed from Lancaster County. Legislative enactment in 1673. First court held 2 Feb 1673/4. [Virginia Counties: Those Resulting from Virginia Legislation, by Morgan Poitiaux Robinson, originally published as Bulletin of the Virginia State Library, Volume 9, January, April, July 1916, reprinted 1992 by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD.]

Middlesex County probably was named for the English county. It was formed from Lancaster County about 1669. Its area is 130 square miles, and the county seat is Saluda.

Geography

Middlesex County is located at the eastern end of Virginia's Middle Peninsula region. The County is bounded by the Rappahannock River to the north, by the Chesapeake Bay to the east, by the Piankatank River and Dragon Run Swamp to the southwest, and by Essex County to the northwest. The County has a land area of 132 square miles (342 km2) and 135 miles (217 km) of shoreline.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 211 square miles (546 km²), of which, 130 square miles (337 km²) of it is land and 80 square miles (208 km²) of it (38.18%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Essex County, VA to the northwest
Gloucester County, VA to the south
King and Queen County, VA to the west
Lancaster County, VA to the northeast
Mathews County, VA to the southeast
Richmond County, VA to the north

Cities and Towns:

- Saluda (County Seat)
- Urbanna	town	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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